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I think both films probe the destructive nature of obsession, but Burden does it way better. Herzog (as the protagonist) was more interesting to me than Fitzcarraldo, as I recall.

I agree TedW. Part of the reason that these two making of docs are so revered is that they deal with such odd productions. APocalypse Now as I remember took a few years to complete mainly due to serious production problems and a megalomaniacal director. Same with Burden.

oldsheperd wrote:I remember it did take a while to get moving. I think Burden is more about the insanity of Herzog. Literally towing an actual steamship is nutty. Like Hearts of Darkness, Burden is more about the hype of a film than the making of the film. Am I being obvious?

I don't think it's about the insanity of Herzog at all. It's a look inside his mind, certainly, but virtually nothing in there says "insanity" to me. Incredibly sensitive, maybe, and very different from most of us. But never insane. I'll never forget the long monologue about how he sees nothing but vulgar terror and destruction in the jungle; how to him it feels unfinished. He even mentions that Kinski would see it as sexual and alive, but to him it's something totally different. To me one of the things that makes Herzog so fascinating is how he sees the world (best declared, perhaps, in the Minnesota Manifesto, specifically in point 12) in a way that's so foreign to most of our minds; I think this film is a great representation of that.

Off topic, I know, but I just had to mention this because it made me laugh.

On tonights' Simpsons, the class is forced to pull the school bus up a hill. Uter, the German kid, says "This feels like Fitzcarraldo." Nelson (of course) says "That film was flawed!" and punches him.

While the Simpsons isn't as good as it used to be, it's good to know that they are still putting in jokes that only like 10 people get.

hmmmm, how is it flawed?

I think it's in reference to the fact that those who liked it/hated it is 50/50. Those who didn't like it thought it was deeply flawed. Now if we're going to debate what 2 cartoon characters said was correct or not, our priorities are seriously out of whack. We need to privatize social security before it's too late!

Full specs are up at HVE. There is, indeed, a book, and what a book it is.

-New restored, high definition digital transfer
-Audio commentary by director Les Blank and editor and sound recordist Maureen Gosling, and Fitzcarraldo director Werner Herzog
-Dreams are Burdens, a new 38-minute video interview with Herzog
-Werner Herzog Eats His Shoes (1980), a 20-minute film by Blank featuring Herzog fulfilling a bet
-Deleted Scenes
-Photo gallery of images taken by Gosling
-Theatrical trailer
-New and improved English subtitle translation and optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
-A a new essay by film scholar Paul Arthur and an 80-page book of exceprts from Blank's and Gosling's production journals

This edition is a gift for film lovers everywhere, isn't it? I mean, is there anything else they can add to this, other than including Fitzcarraldo itself?

exte wrote:This edition is a gift for film lovers everywhere, isn't it? I mean, is there anything else they can add to this, other than including Fitzcarraldo itself?

Drops of blood from Thomas Mauch.

But seriously, this edition is one their most complete. If it would feature the movie, this one would be at the top along with Brazil, Battle of Algiers, 8 1/2, etc.


Axel.

I might have said this before, but I'm actively grateful that it doesn't contain FITZCARRALDO. I'm very content with the Anchor Bay version in my Herzog/Kinski box set, a set which I would recommend to anyone with any interest in Herzog.

Between this and F FOR FAKE, this is like the crazy holy grail spring (well, fall, because I'm in the southern hemisphere, but anyway). If they put out LETTER TO SIBERIA in some ludicrous edition next, I'll ... (insert something very extreme to show how excited I would be for this possibility to unfurl).

Beaver once again ---

http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film/DVDReview ... dreams.htm

My aching wallet. I'm definitely going to have to pick this up. I was amazed when I first Saw Fitzcaraldo for the first time last year. I couldn't believe that they were actually really pulling a steamboat over a mountain. That's nuts. The Anchor Bay Herzog/Kinski set was my first introduction to Herzog and as stated above, it is a very good set. Herzog gives great commentary and the rest of the set looks packed.

Discussion of Herzog's gloriously odd voice has been moved here.

But never insane. I'll never forget the long monologue about how he sees nothing but vulgar terror and destruction in the jungle; how to him it feels unfinished. He even mentions that Kinski would see it as sexual and alive, but to him it's something totally different.

Maybe not clinically insane, Martha....but that particular monologue has always had the ring of someone just on the verge of losing it emotionally. It's one of the gran paranoid monologues of the cinema if you ask me.

Tribe

Tribe wrote:Maybe not clinically insane, Martha....but that particular monologue has always had the ring of someone just on the verge of losing it emotionally. It's one of the gran paranoid monologues of the cinema if you ask me.

I won't argue with that at all, John, I think you're right. But I also think that it's a legitimate representation of a world view that at least partially drives Herzog. It find it fascinating that he can be simultaneously so horrified by the world and so driven to explore it.

I just finished watching this, and although I very much enjoyed it, I must say: I preferred "Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe" more. It seemed like a much more realistic character study.

I don't know what you mean by a much more realistic character study. They're both nonfiction, documentaries... They both show footage from actual events, live on location as they happen... Wouldn't the longer portrait seem more concise, or give more of a portrait to who this director really is, as well as the making of his film?

Just saw this for the first time all the way through with some friends....

Does anyone else think that Herzog looks a lot like John Holmes & Ron Jeremy in this film?

On Speakeasy with Dorian

July 25, 2005: Photographers David Godlis and Roberta Bayley talk about CBGB's, then filmmaker Les Blank on "Burden of Dreams," his documentary on Werner Herzog's epic struggles in making the film "Fitzcarraldo".

http://www.wfmu.org/playlists/SE

has anyone ever bought any of the dvds les blank sells on his site? hows the quality? worth getting? which are the best films there?

Can't vouch for the quality of the discs / tapes, but I can vouch for most of the films. If you're interested in any of the musical genres he covers, you can't really go wrong with those films. The New Orleans Mardi Gras film Always for Pleasure is particularly infectious, and the Chulas Fronteras / Del Mero Corazon double-feature would be gorgeous.

In terms of his more general interest films, Gap-Toothed Women, Garlic Is as Good as Ten Mothers and The Maestro are particularly great, and should give you an immediate understanding of what Blank's all about. For all that Burden of Dreams illustrates a lot of Blank's strengths as a filmmaker, it's not a particularly characteristic film. I also have a terrific fondness for the wacky Chicken Real (an industrial film on bad weed), but that's hardly representative either.

Actually, if you liked Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe more than Burden of Dreams, I'd say that Blank is definitely your cup of tea.

I haven't sprung for any of the discs myself, but I have seen one, played through a video projector in the presence of Blank: the Blues According to Lightnin' Hopkins. I'm no technical wizard, but I'd say the image and sound quality were good. The screening occured right after the Criterion Burden of Dreams was announced, so I commented on his arrival into "the Collection", and his reaction was to rather play it down. He said the transfers for his self-distributed DVDs were just as good as a Criterion and that the only real difference was the availability of extras. Of course that may have been Les the salesman talking (he had a table full of his movies to sell), not Les the filmmaker. But the screening of the DVD backed up his claim, from my technically undertrained perspective.

I loved the "Werner Herzog eats his shoe" Short. I wonder where was that place where the remains of his shoes exhibited?

Sorry to revive a dead topic but figured I'd tell you that a vhs rip of The Blues Accordin' to Lightnin' Hopkins is on Google Video.

Anyone interested in seeing more of Les Blank's films, the Ashland Independent Film Festival is showing several (including Blues, Garlic is as Good as Ten Mothers, Gap-Toothed Women, and several works in progress) over the current weekend (through Monday). It's a five hour drive from Portland or SanFran, though tickets aren't guaranteed. I got to see the Criterion DVD of Burden of Dreams projected today, with Blank in attendance to answer inane questions by our community. Blank was very right about Herzog's final monologue being desperate and funny at the same time (a comment he made on the Criterion audio commentary) - the audience was roaring with laughter at Herzog's apparent about-face. Blank's film is fantastic, but I don't think Ashland "got it" probably because they don't know who Werner Herzog is.

This month's Harper's has excerpts from Herzog's diaries during the shooting of Fitzcarraldo. They're pretty amazing.